Why You Need Engagement Photos

A lot of the recent popularity of an engagement session has to do with social media. In the old days (you know, back in the year 2000 or so), there wasn't much to do with your engagement photos except send them to your hometown newspaper. Today though, with the explosion of social media, your photographs can be seen and shared in so many places. It's hard not to get caught up in the excitement.

Like all wedding decisions, whether or not to invest in an engagement session has a lot to do with both time and money. Although you don't have to have an e-session, here are ten reasons we think you should.

1. Save the Date and Other Announcements

The original reason behind an engagement session remains one of the main reasons today. Many local and community newspapers and magazines publish engagement announcements and having a nice photo to go with the announcement is...nice. Thanks to digital photography your engagement photo can easily be used to give a personal touch to your save the date cards, save the date magnets, or other ideas.

2. Get to Know Your Photographer

You're going to be spending a lot of time with your photographer on your wedding day. An engagement session is a great way for you to get to know each other better. As photographer Ed Hafizov of Zorz Studios says, "The fun, rewarding experience during the earlier e-session,...makes me their "buddy" on the big day. I am not just a service provider anymore."

Carole Cohen of Carole Cohen Photography shares the same sentiment when she says, "Engagement sessions make me feel super close to the couple. So if we meet once at first to talk about the wedding, a second time for the engagement session and a hot cocoa afterwards (which often happens), I feel even more connected to them on their wedding, and it becomes a special day for me too."

3. Make Sure You Love Your Photographer's Work

It's one thing to look at photographs of other people, it's another thing to look at photographs of yourself. Many photographers will reduce the cost of your engagement session if you also book the photographer for your wedding, but that's no reason to stick with a photographer that you don't absolutely love.

4. Get Comfortable with Your Look

Do you know which side is your best side? Do you know how you feel about being photographed from behind? Do you know how to smile naturally on command? Chances are, unless you're a model you haven't spent a lot of time thinking about these things. An engagement session gives you a chance to experiment and get comfortable with being the center of attention. You can also arrange to do a makeup trial run before your engagement session to see how your makeup will photograph on the big day.

According to Blaga Ditrow of Lush Life Photography & Film engagement photos are great for getting used to not just your look but "exposing [your] feelings. People are not used to having someone photograph them when they hug and kiss," says Ditrow.

5. Emotionally Blackmail Your Children

One day one of your future beloved children will say something mean to you. That's the moment when you whip out your engagement photo. "look," you can quietly say, "look how pretty Mommy was before she had children."

6. Test the Depths of Your Partner's Love

Do you love pro-wrestling? Like really love it? Like, think it would be great to dress up as your favorite wrestlers and take some photos? An engagement session lets you do this!

7. Express Your Personality

A lot of wedding professionals and blogs urge you to think of your wedding as a chance to express your personality, and you can to some extent. But, there are limitations. Not only that, you have a lot of people to please on your wedding day from your mothers to your best friends. Your engagement photo session can be just about the two of you.

8. Solve Disputes

You love the idea of a rustic country wedding, your fiance wants a modern urban feel? With an engagement session you can do both in one day! Try out differnt styles and feels, and see what really works for the two of you together. Even if the final decision for your wedding isn't the one you originally wanted, you still have the photos of your idea!

9. Feel like a Model

Although social media has put us in front of the camera more often, most of us still don't get rock star or cover girl treatment. An engagement session lets you indulge in costume and set changes, even a wind machine if you want it!

10. Home Decor

You may be planning on putting wedding photos in your home after you marry. As beautiful as they are at capturing that one special day, they're not how you look every day! Engagement photos can be taken in your every day clothes, in locations that are special to you. Having an engagement photo around can remind you not just of your wedding day, but of that special spark between your and your spouse-to-be!